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Building a model before we actually develop something large scale is not new tohuman kind. From miniature building models of yester years, their successors - the3D CAD models, rapid prototypes or simulations of last decade, to the more recentvirtual and augmented reality, the concept of simulation has continuously evolved.Today, digital twins, the dynamic digital representations of any physical entity alongwith IoT are helping the world realize unprecedented business benefits.

Digital twins were initially used by NASA to visualize, monitor, and modify itsspaceships that were so far away. According to Gartner, by 2021, 50% of large

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DIGITAL TWIN – DOUBLING BENEFITSFOR FACTORIES OF THE FUTUREby Rajaravisankar Shanmugam, June 5 2018

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industrial companies will deploy digital twins with a 10% gain in effectiveness. IDCpredicts the gains from digital twin technology to be as high as 25%. Digital twinsfind varied applications in equipment performance monitoring and assessment,equipment life assessment, creating a sustainable environment, and in enhancingthe digital experience of customers. Here’s how a digital twin can support anenterprise in its transformational journey towards becoming the smart factory of thefuture.

Digital twins are powered by their ability to integrate data from multiple sources --the Design Data, Operational Data, and the Maintenance Data. These data definethe actual asset or a process, with which intelligent models are built. When such adata-rich model encounters deep product knowledge, physics, and powerfulindustrial analytics, an active digital twin is born. Enterprises that have prioritizedtheir use cases in-line with their operational and business strategy can tap variousbenefits of digital twin technology.

Innovative Business Models

Digital twins can offer new services and create exponential value for businesses inmore ways than one:

Product as a Service model: Enterprises are taking the servitization route toprovide value added services to their customers. In the process, they arecreating ancillary revenue opportunities for themselves. This servitization modelalso reduces service chain leakage to third party service providers.

Product differentiator model: OEMs sell analytics insights andpredictive/performance services derived out of the digital twins of their productsas differentiators to their products. This helps them gain more market share andcustomer delight.

Asset additional value generational model: Digital twins can bring in hugesavings and efficiency gains to an enterprise when deployed forpredictive/prescriptive maintenance and operations optimization. For example, acoal powered boiler that requires a combustion tuning period of 14 days can beoptimized to 12 days using a digital twin. This saves about three million USD perboiler tuning.

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It's not just products or physical assets that can be twinned in the digital world.With the possibilities of aggregation, various internal processes can be virtuallyestablished and evaluated. This opens the doors for process industries to arriveat vital decisions by simultaneously working in the virtual and physical world.Microsoft foresees that by leveraging the power of mixed reality and insightsfrom a process digital twin, such industries can achieve cost effective processdesigns and virtually commission them with a 20% productivity improvement inthe upcoming decade.

Enterprises would do good to assess revenue, profits, return on investment (ROI),and cost optimization against the perceived value and benefits that can be derivedout of a digital twin.

Customer Gratification

Today's customers not only expect great experiences, but they want theseexperiences to be fine-tuned to their very special individualistic needs and wants.The data collected through sensors and fed into the digital twins of products canprovide valuable insights on each customer’s unique requirements regarding theusage of the product. The same concept can be applied to every workingequipment in the factory or even their processes to customize them and make themmore efficient than ever before. The OEMs / product manufacturers can then feedthese inputs back into the design or the R&D phase to deliver an asset / productthat exactly meets the various needs of a particular customer.

In field services at customer sites, your service engineers can receive analyticsoutput from a digital twin on their digital wearable or handset as a notification oralert. They can carry out optimal orremedial actions immediately. Imagine the extentof customer gratification when as an OEM you can promise them minimal asset /equipment down time with such on the spot remedial actions.

Digital Portfolio Risk Management

With digital twin your insurer can get data and therefore greater insights into thelikely performance, lifetime, and behavior of your asset. These asset insights canbe translated to identify, manage, and mitigate risk, thereby considerably avoidingdown time and loss of productivity.

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Performance monitoring and life assessment will also enable insurers to modellikely scenarios and plan their risk portfolio to maintain an optimal balance of risk.

Digital transformation in the Industry 4.0 era is all about realizing leadership acrossdigital ecosystems. Digital twin enabled smart factories of the future need toharness the abundance of data and insights to take advantage of the digitalecosystem. A right partner with domain mastery across various industries, vast datascience expertise, and rich digital twin experience can help you keep ahead of therace of digital transformation.

Join us at SAPPHIRE NOW from June 5–7 in Orlando, Florida to connect with ourDigital Twin and IoT experts to transform your operations for agility, efficiency, andgrowth.

About the author

Rajaravisankar Shanmugam (Raja Shan), is the Global Head -Business Development for the Internet of Things (IoT) Business atTCS. He is responsible for developing the IoT Business, thusleading the global IoT Sales, Marketing & Analyst Relations, anddeveloping strategic Alliances & partnerships. He is a leadingvoice in Internet of things space, delivering the keynote address atprominent industry events and has published various works ofthought leadership including an article on realizing business valuefrom Internet of things.

Raja is an experienced leader with a well demonstrated record fortremendous success in Product Engineering, Projectmanagement, Strategy & Business development, Marketing andAnalyst relations in the areas of Internet of things, EngineeringServices & PLM for TCS. He has developed long standingrelationships with customers from leading enterprises acrossindustries such as Manufacturing, Hi-Tech & Energy.

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